Yvain #1

So far I am liking the story of Yvain, it seems to be a continuation of the story of Erec and Enide as the same characters are brought in the story like the king and queen and the knights. I think that the reason why the beginning of the story was not the same as the one in Erec and Enide, is that it seems as if its a continuation of the same lesson that Chretien. Or it could be a different way of introducing a new lesson. The story though does take time to talk about how love is not what it meant before, people take it for granted and no one no longer knows what love is and those who think they do know nothing.

The story that Calogrenant told was one that you could see would begin the story and start to off the plot of the story. The strange part to me was that of the man who said he was the lord of the woods and he controlled all the beasts. The description of him brings the image that he is a black man and so there is a bit of race in this book. This is the first time to me that there is a mention of race in the story. Then, the elements that are interesting is that when Calogrenant pours the water over the stone and the weather changes and it starts to rain and thunder, then return to normal is when the knight comes out to challenge him. The reason behind his challenge was that he said Calogrenant had brought damage onto his place and I wonder how that place came to be his and what real damage was done? The place on its own is bizarre the way the water is boiling hot and that the tree always has leaves, seems to never shed or die or change with the weather. Also interesting in this story in the beginning there is alot of references to the bible in it. For example, the reference to Pentecost and Saint John the Baptist.

Looking at the character Yvain, he is a guy who wants to be the hero, as he wants to avenge his cousin from the shame that he endured by the knight. he wants to go and face the knight that shamed his cousin on his own and either come back as a failure or a hero but doesn't want anyone to know before hand. You can get that from when he says "So Yvain, having no desire for their company, did not wait for them; he resolved instead to set off alone, whether it might bring him joy or greif." (pg. 303) He does go and challenges the knight and they fight like the knight did with his cousin. With Yvain though, Yvain is equal to him and he ends up dealing the knight a mortal blow to his head and that has never happened before to him. The knight then flees and Yvain follows because he wants to make sure he won and wants recoginition. The knight who is a lord of a castle ends up dying and Yvain thinks about how he was going show people that he defeated the knight. In the texts it says "He was upset to see them burying the body, since he now had no way of proving that he had killed the knight." If he did not have some proof to show in the assembly, he would be throughly shamed." (pg. 311) he was concerned about what others would think about him and he didn't want Kay to come at him with words that would put him down or provoke him into a fight like Kay usually likes to do. Yvain seems to be a good guy, intelligent but he also seems like a character who will fall into the typical stereotype of a hero with getting the glory and the girl in the end as there is already mention of beautiful women in the story, like the one that is back at the house that he is lodging in and the one who is helping him escape.